Meet at the Museum · Phone: 269.373.7990 or 800.772.3370 Comments or questions about this publication may be directed to the KVCC Marketing Department at 269.373.7847. Kalamazoo

museONsummer2014

Meet at the

Museum

Art, Animation, and Animatronics

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From the DirectorThe Museum is looking forward to a fun-filled summer of programs and activities, starting with “Jump into Summer” on June 6th and 7th. This annual event, tied to the June Jubilee’s downtown festivities, will begin on Friday night with free concerts featuring The Red Sea Pedestrians and Megan Dooley. On Saturday, the party continues with hands-on crafts and opportunities for visitors of all ages to

try their hand at animation and multimedia arts with help from students from KVCC’s Center for New Media. See article on page 6 and 7 for related story.

There is still time to see the “Michigan’s Heritage Barns” exhibit featuring images of farm structures from across the state. Farming tools and machines from the Museum’s collection are also part of this exhibition. The exhibit closes June 9th.

Opening on June 15th, “The Robot Zoo” explores the biomechanics of complex animal robots to discover how real animals work. Visit “The Robot Zoo” in this traveling exhibit based on the book by John Kelly. The exhibit provides fantastic new insights and hands-on fun for discovering just how animals work, including a supersized chameleon, a platypus, and a house fly. See related article on pages 4 and 5.

The fun continues as “Speed Bump: The Comic World of Dave Coverly” opens on June 21st, giving visitors an opportunity to enjoy the wit and whimsy of the human experience through Coverly’s nationally-recognized, syndicated “single-panel” cartoons.

This year’s Summer Hands-On Happenings series, “The Creative Spirit,” is designed to get your creative juices flowing for a summer packed with make-believe, puzzles, science, and magic! This free program runs every Wednesday from 1-4 pm, June 25th through August 6th. See the calendar on page 16 and 17 for more details.

In June of last year, the Kalamazoo Community Foundation brought StoryCorps to Kalamazoo and invited community members to share stories that illustrate why we love where we live. Their interviews are now part of the Museum’s collection. Check out the Museum’s website at kalamazoomuseum.org for links to excerpts of the interviews and our full calendar of summer programs.

Have a wonderful summer full of fun, creativity, and living well. museON, everyone!

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summer2014museON is a publication of the Kalamazoo Valley Museum and Kalamazoo Valley Community College

Editor: Bill McElhone Managing Editor: Dawn Kemp Design: Kathy Tyler Contributors: Tom DietzElspeth InglisPaula Metzner Eric SchreurSarah Miller

Kalamazoo Valley Museum Advisory Team Brittany ArisCarol Baker Callie Baskerville-Jones Leann DeittrickJaye Johnson Mike LaabsBarbara Larson Sonya HollinsAnna Whitten Bill McElhone, Director Linda Depta, Director of College Relations

Kalamazoo Valley Community College Board of Trustees Derl D. Oberlin, ChairmanMary T. Gustas, Vice ChairmanAnna Whitten, SecretaryA. Christian Schauer, TreasurerSusan L. Miller, TrusteeJeffrey E. Patton, TrusteeT. Kenneth Young, Trustee Marilyn J. Schlack, President

museON is published three times a year: Fall, Winter, and Summer. Questions about Kalamazoo Valley Museum programs described in this publication may be directed to the Kalamazoo Valley Museum offices. Phone: 269.373.7990 or 800.772.3370 Comments or questions about this publication may be directed to the KVCC Marketing Department at 269.373.7847. Kalamazoo Valley Museum 230 N. Rose Street PO Box 4070 Kalamazoo, MI 49003-4070

From the Director 2SPEED BUMP 3

Special Exhibit THE ROBOT ZOO 4ART, ANIMATION, AND ANIMATRONICS 6

Kalamazoo’s CIVIL WAR CARETAKERS 8Bloomin’ KALAMAZOO 10

Helen Keller AN INSPIRING VISITOR 12Over There A DISTANT WAR 14

WHAT IS IT? 15Calendar of Activities 16

New Acquisition AND THE BAND PLAYED ON 18Summer Hands-On Happenings 19

Special Advertisements 19

Bill McElhone

2 kalamazoomuseum.org

SPEED BUMP

© 2013 Dave Coverly

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“Speed Bump,” a single-panel cartoon with a local connection, is now an exhibit featuring original daily and Sunday cartoons. The exhibit, by Plainwell native Dave Coverly, will be displayed in the Kalamazoo Valley Museum’s first floor gallery from June 21 to September 21, 2014. Coverly began cartooning seriously in 1986 as an undergraduate student at Eastern Michigan University. In 2009, he won the Reuben Award for Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year, the highest honor given by the National Cartoonist Society.

The cartoons featured in the exhibit are explained with Coverly’s quick-witted humor. Also on display will be Coverly’s illustrations for “Sue MacDonald Had a Book,” written by Ann Arbor resident Jim Tobin.

Through wit and whimsy, Coverly reveals the truths of the human experience, from the workplace to family life, and beyond. He admits there is no overriding theme, no tidy little philosophy that precisely describes what Speed Bump is about. “Basically,” he says, “if life were a movie, these would be the outtakes.”

These “outtakes” have appeared in more than 400 newspapers and websites, including the Washington Post, Toronto Globe & Mail, Detroit Free Press, Chicago Tribune, Indianapolis Star, Cleveland Plain Dealer, Cincinnati Enquirer, New Orleans Times-Picayune, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Vancouver Sun, Baltimore Sun, and Arizona Republic.

Coverly’s work has been published in hundreds of school textbooks, magazines, newsletters, and a variety of merchandise, including greeting cards and calendars for American Greetings, beer bottle labels for Bell’s Brewery, and CD covers for The Bob & Tom Show. His art has been exhibited in Kilkenny Castle in Ireland and was honored with a retrospective gallery show at the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts. Original pieces also hang in the offices of numerous luminaries, including Wolf Blitzer and Anderson Cooper.

The first “Speed Bump” book, “Speed Bump: A Collection of Cartoon Skidmarks,” (Andrews McMeel) was published in 2000. It was followed by “Speed Bump: Cartoons for Idea People,” in 2004 and “Just One %$#@# Speed Bump After Another” in 2005 (both published by ECW Press). Coverly’s latest book, “Laughter is the Best Medicine,” was published in March 2014 by Sellers Publishing, Inc.

Coverly works out of an attic studio in Ann Arbor,

Michigan. He is married to Chris, and they have two daughters, Alayna and Simone.

This exhibition was organized by the Kalamazoo

Institute of Arts.

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The Kalamazoo Valley Museum will spring to life with oversized animated creatures when it hosts “The Robot Zoo” exhibit from June 14 to August 31, 2014.

The traveling exhibit is based on the book by John Kelly, “The Robot Zoo: A Mechanical Guide to the Way Animals Work.” Visitors will explore the biomechanics of complex animal robots to discover how real animals function. The exhibit features mechanical and programmable robotic animals which show the amazing mechanics of living things, called biomechanics. By comparing anatomy, environments, and size of the actual creatures to their mechanical counterparts, “The Robot Zoo” provides fantastic, new insights and hands-on fun for discovering just how animals work.

Bill McElhone, Director of the Kalamazoo Valley Museum, expects the exhibit to have wide appeal. “We’re excited about hosting ‘The Robot Zoo’ throughout the summer,” McElhone said. “Children love animated creatures. This display is full of exciting hands-on activities and larger-than-life animals.

What a great combination! I can imagine families visiting the exhibit repeatedly throughout the summer.”

The Museum’s Summer Hands-On Happenings, with a new theme of “The Creative Spirit” will relate to this exhibit and the “Speed Bump” cartoon exhibit that will be on display in the first floor gallery. The Hands-On series runs on Wednesdays from June 25 to August 6. See more details on page 19.

Machinery in the robot animals simulates the body parts of their real-life counterparts. In the robot animals, muscles become pistons, intestines become filtering pipes, and brains become computers. Giant robot animals and more than a dozen hands-on activities reveal the magic of nature as a master engineer.

As an introduction to the exhibit, drum-mounted machine parts in the Robot Body Shop allow visitors to manipulate some of the mechanical devices used to construct the robots, such as hinges, pumps, springs, and shock absorbers.


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The exhibit was produced by BBH Exhibits Inc., San Antonio, Texas with support from Silican Graphics, Inc. and TIME Magazine.

Visitors will see the inner workings of a supersized chameleon, a platypus, and a house fly. They can shoot out the chameleon’s spring-loaded tongue to see how it uses it to reel in a meal. Children can control the movement of the head, tail, and flippers of the platypus which the real animal uses to move through water searching for food. They will also observe the mechanical movements of a fly’s wings from a robotic fly with a 6-foot wingspan.

At the Chameleon Activity Stations, visitors get to control the giant robotic chameleon. At the three different stations, one can change its color and move its body, head, eyes, and tongue. Chameleons change color for two reasons: to hide from an enemy or to attract or scare another chameleon. Children can blend in like a chameleon at the Hide and Seek station. Wearing a coat that matches a wall in the background, kids can watch themselves appear and disappear on a video monitor. Triggering the “Tongue Gun” demonstrates how a real chameleon shoots out its long, sticky-tipped tongue to reel in a meal.


Mad Hatter Bot by Matthew Perigo, Kalamazoo Valley student, 2012

Cast of Jamie by Bre Anna McCoy, Kalamazoo Valley student

CNM Graphic

Art, A

nimation, and AnimatronicsMeet at the Museum


This summer, the Museum is the site of a confluence of cartooning, animation, and animatronics. We’d like to say we planned it precisely that way, but, in fact, we are enjoying a bit of serendipity in that the three features are, just coincidentally, related. On June 7, when we host a revived animation festival (see ad, back page), now called Kalamazoo Animation Film Interactive (KAFI), KVCC’s Center for New Media students will help Museum visitors learn the basics of animation. Some of the prior KAFI award-winning animated shorts will be shown in the Mary Jane Stryker Theater on preceding Friday nights. After this introduction to cartooning and animation, we’ll take a step farther into the world of animation and biomechanics with “The Robot Zoo” exhibit, opening June 14. Here, you’ll see larger-than-life animals and insects in robot form whose movements precisely mimic those of the real creatures they represent. A week later, David Coverly’s cartoons will amuse and resonate with viewers in a concurrent exhibit called “Speed Bump.”

Animatronic robots go beyond merely evoking life in two dimensional form; these are real, three-dimensional creations that have been designed to precisely recreate human, animal, or even plant structures and movements. The use of biomechanics to build robots is not limited to entertainment alone. Medical science, athletes, and many others study biomechanics to better understand how organisms work, how to perform movements more easily, or how to recover from injury. So what do these exhibits and our animation festival have in common? We can begin with definitions. The root word is the Latin, “anima,” meaning breath or life. An animal is a living organism distinguished from plant life by its ability to move voluntarily. Biomechanics is the study of the mechanical principles of living organisms, particularly their structure and movements.

The animatronic robots, the cartoon drawings, and the animations all demonstrate how we attempt to mimic, in one way or another, the real world around us. While they don’t necessarily recreate exactly what we see in real life, the way they’re drawn or animated will conjure in our minds familiar visions and experiences. A masterfully drawn cartoon or animation pulls the viewer into its world with, perhaps, a furrowed brow, a tilt of the head, or an upraised hand, tail, or paw. But, for our purposes this summer, we present robots, cartoons, and various forms of animation to make you smile — maybe we’ll even hear a chuckle or two as you recognize reality in those creations brought to life on paper or in 3D!

Cast of Jamie by Bre Anna McCoy, Kalamazoo Valley student

Steam Nouveau by Justin Bartl, Kalamazoo Valley student


While most able-bodied men of Kalamazoo and southwest Michigan were off fighting for the Union, the citizens left at home were being called upon for their help, especially the women. The Kalamazoo Telegraph reported on April 2, 1862, “Women are learning and feeling, all over our land, that they have part and lot in the labors and sacrifices which the war imposes.” Kalamazoo’s women organized a Ladies Soldiers’ Aid Society primarily to gather and send supplies to military hospitals and regiments in the field.

One role the women may not have anticipated was that of caretaker to sick and injured soldiers stationed in Kalamazoo. Nineteen regiments that formed or rendezvoused in Kalamazoo also lived and trained at Camp Douglas, located at the intersection of Reed and Portage streets. In August 1861, the 6th Michigan Regiment arrived at the camp, which was ill-prepared to adequately house the troops. Many of the men fell sick. A hospital was set up, and the ladies of the Society cared for the men during the day and provided them with such necessities as bedding, towels, and food. But that was merely the beginning. Later that fall, the 13th Michigan Regiment, stationed at the camp for five months, had an outbreak of measles, affecting 120 men. According to Mrs. T.P. Sheldon, the men “were visited constantly...” and supplied with “warm covering, their blankets not being sufficient in the winter, particularly for the sick and convalescent.” She also reported that in December 1863, the 11th Cavalry left camp “but left 12 very sick men lying

CIVIL WAR CARETAKERSKalamazoo’s

on heaps of straw, in an empty room with only a drunken comrade to care for them. They were removed to the hospital of the Invalid Corps where the Society cared for them and provided all their necessities.”

The Invalid Corps arrived in the fall of 1863. It was created that April by the U.S. War Department to employ “convalescent wounded and feeble” soldiers to carry out noncombat roles such as cooks, hospital attendants, or garrison duty. The men sent to Kalamazoo came for medical care before going back into service to carry out new duties. The hospital was set up on the 2nd floor of the Humphrey Block and staffed by military surgeons and nurses. Mrs. Sheldon reported that the Corps “remained till near the close of the war. The men were sick a great deal, and received constant care from the Society.”

There was a core group of local women who dedicated four years of their lives to managing the Ladies Soldier’s Aid Society in Kalamazoo. While their efforts may go unnoticed today, they were most appreciated by those experiencing the war firsthand. A soldier identified merely as S.W. writes to the Kalamazoo Gazette in May 1861, “We have received those needle cases which were sent by the ladies of Kalamazoo.” George W. Lyon, a Kalamazoo physician writing from one of the military hospitals, writes, “The canned fruits sent by the ladies were most grateful and refreshing to the patients, and called forth many blessings upon the fair donors.”

The Invalid Corps’ hospital in Kalamazoo was filled with patients, as was this military hospital in Washington, D.C., 1865. Library of Congress


CIVIL WAR CARETAKERS

Mrs. T.P. Sheldon was the president of Kalamazoo’s Ladies’ Soldiers Aid Society. Photo courtesy of the Archives & Regional History Collections, Western Michigan University.

A hospital for the Invalid Corps was located on the second floor of the building at the corner of Portage and Main Street, shown here in 1867. The building still stands today, housing Olde Peninsula Brewpub.

In June 1861, the Federal Government created the United States Sanitary Commission to provide medical assistance and other non-military aid to soldiers during the Civil War. The Commission was supported by Soldiers Aid Societies that raised funds and collected supplies to send to military hospitals.

In Kalamazoo, the Ladies’ Library Association took the lead in organizing a local affiliate, known as the Kalamazoo Ladies Soldiers’ Aid Society. Local women collected and made quilts, socks, gloves, bedding, food, and other supplies to ship to military hospitals and regiments of men from Kalamazoo and southwest Michigan.


The mention of Kalamazoo’s better-known industries in its history brings to mind Checker cabs, Gibson guitars, friable pills, and Kalamazoo stoves, but it was also famous for its celery. The celery industry in Kalamazoo declined in the 1920s, and many growers switched to bedding plants. By the 1980s, Kalamazoo County was the nation’s largest producer of annual blooms. Today it ranks #2 overall but remains the leading producer of flats and hanging baskets of geraniums, impatiens, and petunias. Images from the Museum’s collection provide a glimpse of the early history of the industry in Kalamazoo County.

BLOOMIN’ KALAMAZOO

Entry road to Nazareth Academy, 1912

Patriotic display of bedding plants in Bronson Park, 1923

Jacob Flipse, a local celery grower, eventually switched to bedding plants. His greenhouses, pictured here in the early 1900s, were located on South Burdick Street.


Artistic rendering of the greenhouses of Dunkley florist and celery grower located on Pearl St. in Kalamazoo, 1892.

Kalamazoo’s pedestrian mall, 1985

The description on this 1991 postcard reads, “With 28 varieties of annual flowers, it makes a beautiful scene for the Flower Festival which is held in late July.”

Bronson Park, 1991

Bronson Park, 1976


elen Keller was born in Alabama in 1880 and at the age of 19 months contracted a severe fever that left her blind and deaf. Her parents met the challenge of raising their daughter by hiring teacher Anne Sullivan, a graduate of Perkins School for the Blind in Massachusetts. Sullivan worked miracles with the little girl, helping her to communicate and eventually to speak. At 20, Helen entered Radcliffe College, graduating cum laude in 1904. She became an activist for people with disabilities, supported the suffragette movement, and spoke against child labor. She was also instrumental in the establishment of the American Civil Liberties Union and Helen Keller International. In 1964, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom for her humanitarian efforts.

Helen Keller died on June 1, 1968, and is among the most influential women of the 20th century.

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Kalamazoo College student Claire Wight was in the audience the evening of Helen Keller’s visit. She described the event in her diary.

1st Congregational Church, Kalamazoo, ca. 1910

Teacher Anne Sullivan Macy taught Helen many ways of communicating including forming her fingers into the shape of letters of the alphabet. Here they are in 1913. Library of Congress


Kalamazoo has had its share of famous visitors, from presidents to rock stars. One who had escaped our attention is author and activist Helen Keller. Keller traveled extensively, giving lectures around the world, and on January 21, 1914, she made a stop in Kalamazoo. Newspaper headlines read:

She spoke at the Congregational Church that evening, and the Kalamazoo Gazette reported, “Miss Helen Keller, the wonder of the age, entertained and delighted an audience of nearly 2,000 people…” She was accompanied by her teacher, Anne Sullivan Macy.

While the newspaper reported the visit of pupil and teacher, the personal reminiscences of 18-year-old Claire Wight of Kalamazoo provide a more intimate look at that lecture and Miss Keller. In her diary*, Claire writes:

“This evening I have witnessed the most wonderful thing I have ever seen in my whole life. I heard Helen Keller lecture.

Mother and I didn’t decide to go until the last minute then I whized [sic] Mother out of the house and down there before she knew it. Of course every seat in the house was sold long ago and we had no tickets but that made no difference, I was determined to see her.

First her teacher Mrs. Macy a wonderful woman lectured on how she had trained and educated Helen. It was a marvelous thing how the child could associate words with objects then of how she learned not only to convey her thoughts by her hands but by her tongue. Of the years of patient practice of feeling the shape of the tongue, throat, and lips in the various words. Of her wonderful preserverance [sic] and patience and of her winning a degree from Radcliffe & Harvard College.

[Helen] was dressed beautifully in white and a beautiful bunch of roses was handed up to her…Her face is animated and happy and after you become accustomed to her strange voice you grow to love her. She is so sweet and loveble [sic] and yet so intelligent, why she knows five times more than I do with all my senses. It just made me ashamed of my laziness to think that I don’t begin to use my powers.”

Helen made quite an impact on Claire, as she must have on many others in the audience. The next day, Sunday, Claire simply writes, “This [afternoon] I slept and Helen Keller haunted my dreams.”

*Diary is in the collection of the Kalamazoo Valley Museum.

Helen Keller, Most Interesting Woman in World Coming to Kazoo

FLOCK TO HEAR HELEN KELLER, WORLD WONDER

An InspiringVisitor


A DISTANT WAROver There:

On Tuesday, June 30, 1914, a small article near the bottom of the Kalamazoo Gazette’s front page reported that Austrians were mourning the assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand, the heir to the throne of the Austrian Empire, and his wife. The murders in Sarajevo received scant attention, although the next day the Gazette did note that it was impossible to predict what the tragedy might lead to.

Several small reports on the police interrogations of the assassin were the extent of the Gazette’s coverage in the aftermath of the murders. The newspaper did cover international affairs, including extensive coverage of the civil war in Mexico and the threat of civil war in Ireland. If a short July 24 report about the danger of a general European war did not alarm readers, the full page headline on the Sunday, July 25 paper must have shocked most readers.

War between Austria and Serbia would, read the headline, involve all of Europe. For the next week, the headlines grew larger and more ominous as one European nation after another issued or rejected ultimatums and then declared war. As the crisis slid into a catastrophe, the Gazette, which did not publish

on Mondays, put out an extra edition on Monday, August 3.

It would be nearly three years until the United States entered the Great War, but Kalamazoo began to feel its effects almost immediately. On August 7, four laborers quit their city sewer construction jobs on Dunkley Avenue to return home and enlist in the Austrian army. As national markets anticipated a greater demand for food from the warring nations of Europe, grain and meat prices soared. Downtown restaurants raised menu prices by 20% almost overnight.

Coverage of the war continued to be extensive. While the reporting was subtly more favorable to Great Britain, France, and the Allies, it was not overtly hostile to Germany and the Central Powers. The Gazette did not advocate American support for either side, much less encourage direct American involvement.

Had Kalamazoo residents been told that within 3 years the United States would be drawn into the conflict, most would

have found the idea preposterous. In the end, over 2000 Kalamazoo County men would serve in the war, and

more than 100 would die in that struggle.


WHAT IS IT?1.A palette knife. Palette knives are used by artists for mixing and applying paint. This knife belonged to Benjamin Cooley, an artist from Kalamazoo who is well known for his 1879 portrait of Titus Bronson, the founder of Kalamazoo.

3. Erase chalkboards. This heavy-duty chalkboard eraser was used at the Union School in Kalamazoo. Union School was located at the corner of Vine Street and South Westnedge Avenue from 1859-1880.

2. A projector called a Radioptican. Also called postcard projector, this Radioptican from the 1920s could project pictures, photos, postcards, or clippings onto a wall. The image would slide into the back door of the machine and could be projected as large as three to six feet. The two chimneys on the top were used to expel heat that was produced from the light bulbs.

This is no ordinary knife. It’s used to apply something that is not food. What is it?

A teacher would have used this in the classroom. What did it do?3

2 The lens and chimneys are a clue to what this does. What is it?

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SPECIAL EXHIBITIONS

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HANDS-ONHAPPENINGS

PLANETARIUM

SPEED BUMPJune 21–September 21Enjoy the wit and whimsy of the human experience through Speed Bump, the comic strip by Dave Coverly, formerly of Plainwell, Michigan.

This exhibition was organized by the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts

THE ROBOT ZOO June 14 – August 31 Explore the biomechanics of complex animal robots to discover how real animals work. Visit The Robot Zoo in this traveling exhibit based on the book by the same name.

This exhibit was produced by BBH Exhibits Inc., San Antonio, Texas with support from Silican Graphics, Inc. and TIME Magazine.

Check out the full calendar at kalamazoomuseum.orgFEATURED EVENTS

All exhibits are FREE!

SPECIAL WEDNESDAY PLANETARIUM SHOWS June 25 - August 6 For families, offered during Summer Hands-On Happenings; all tickets are $3/person:

One World, One Sky; 1 pmJoin Big Bird, Elmo, and their Chinese friend, Hu Hu Zhu, exploring the sky they share. Discover the Big Dipper and North Star, and take an imaginary trip to the Moon with Elmo and Hu Hu Zhu.

Space Park 360; 2 pmTravel through an amusement park that spans the Solar System. Computer generated graphics create unique but somewhat familiar rides at each of the planets.

THE CREATIVE SPIRIT!Wednesdays, 1–4 pm From June 25 through August 6 Get your creative juices flowing for a summer packed with make-believe, puzzles, ingenuity, creativity, science and magic!

June 25: Engineering and Ingenuity Use your imagination to build sculptures, create collages, and more.

July 2: The Mystery of MagicCreate optical illusions, magic tricks, and tools of the trade. July 9: Draw Me a Story Draw a variety of cartoon items and illustrate your story.

July 16: SuperheroesMake puppets, costumes, and super hero props.

July 23: Wild and Crazy ScienceConduct experiments and try your hand at wild science. July 30: Mind Games and Puzzles Solve puzzles, make games, and figure out mysteries.

August 6: Inspired by NatureCreate using materials found in nature.

All Hands-On Programs are FREEVisit our website for details on all programs.

FEATURE SHOWS Mon, Wed , Fri, Sat, Sun at 3 pm

Invaders of Mars (through June 20)Orbiting in a spacecraft from Earth, gather information about great chasms, canyons, and volcanoes on Mars.

Dawn of the Space Age (June 21 – Sept 19)Trace the origins of space exploration start-ing with the launch of Sputnik in October 1957 through the first Moon landing in 1969. Then move into the era of robotic explorers whizzing past or landing on distant worlds. And look ahead to commercial exploration of near Earth space and the dream of space tourism.

FAMILY SHOWS Sat at 1 pm; Sun at 2 pm

One World, One Sky (through June 15)Join Big Bird, Elmo, and their Chinese friend, Hu Hu Zhu, exploring the sky they share. The Cosmic Zoo(June 21 – Sept 19) Additional show times: M-F at 11 amOrion the Hunter is now Orion the zoo keeper in this thirty-minute interactive family show that tours the constellations.

SEASONAL STARGAZING SHOW Tue, Thu at 3 pm; Sat at 2 pm

The Artists’ Sky (Through June 19) Experience the stars through the expression of story, song, painting, and music.

Treasures of the Great Lakes (June 21– Sept 18)Learn how navigators on the Great Lakes have used the night sky and lighthouses to guide them to their destinations. Discover how you can use bright stars as “lighthouses” to guide you through the constellations.

LASER LIGHT SHOWS IN THE PLANETARIUMEvery Friday night at 8 pm through June 6

U2You’ve seen the band—now see the music. State-of-the-art laser animation graphics set to the music of U2. It’s out of this world! All shows are $3 per person.

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Mary Jane Stryker Theater

CHALLENGER LEARNING CENTER

MUSIC, MOVIES, AND MORE

The CLC is a space-flight simulation experience, now for all ages. Go to our website for details and to make reservations for groups.

The following missions are offered to individuals during Summer Hands-On Happening Wednesdays, June 25 – Aug 6:

The Challenger Experience $3 per person. 1:30 pm

Young children and their grown-ups lift off from Earth, dock with a space station, and return to Earth – all in 20 minutes! Children under the age of 12 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.

Mini-Missions $3 per person. 3 pm

This 45-minute session in the spacecraft simulator will fly you to rendezvous with a comet. For ages eight and up; each child aged 8 to 11 must be accompanied by a partner aged 12 or older.

The following missions are available for groups by reservation only; call or go online for details:

Junior Missions$5 per person

90-minute missions designed for small groups of up to 14 participants, ages eight and up. $5 per person.

Full Crew Missions$25 per person

This three-hour program is designed to build teamwork and leadership skills for groups of 16 – 30 participants, ages 12 and up.

Check out the full calendar at kalamazoomuseum.org FEATURED EVENTS

In memory of Alvin H. and Emily T. Little

CHILDREN’S LANDSCAPE

Three rooms of interactive exhibits and playful environments await young visitors in Children’s Landscape. Children five and under are encouraged to play and explore with their families. Older siblings must accompany a child five or younger to play in Children’s Landscape and must play safely and appropriately. FREE!

April/May In My BackyardDiscover Michigan animals, view the stars, and enjoy the great outdoors from inside the Museum.

June/July Let’s EatTake a trip around the world for lunch! Play in a variety of cultural “restaurants.”

August/September The Four SeasonsLearn to recognize the different seasons by their natural environments, what we wear, and what we do.

FRIDAY NIGHT HIGHLIGHTS SEASON FINALE & THE BIG SUMMER REVEALFriday Night Highlights, including laser light shows in the planetarium, go on summer vacation after June 6 and resume in October.

Now, to start the summer fun…

Jump into SummerThe KVM will join the June Jubilee festivities with performers, activities, and special guests: Friday, June 6 Art Hop5 pm FREEDooley Noted and The Red Sea Pedestrians live music double header 8 pm $3/personU2 laser light show

Saturday, June 7 Gaming and Animation FestivalNoon - 4 pm FREEStudents of KVCC’s Animation Labs will lead visitors in producing stop motion creations using claymation and Legos. Visitors of all ages will enjoy laser light painting and learning how to create cartoons from beginning to end with Adam Mellema, producer of several Disney shorts, and Erick Tran, cartoonist for the Simpsons. Discover a new local video game for kids from Geeta Games and see the Museum’s animated short, Nightwalk, a spooky planetarium show usually reserved for Halloween. Kick off a summer full of animation!

AND THE BAND PLAYED ON

New Acquisition

The Museum’s collection holds over 15,000 photographs and nearly 1,000 articles of clothing, but it is rare that we have both an item of clothing and a photograph of the original owner wearing it. Recently, the Museum was lucky enough to receive Russell Minar’s uniform jacket and a photograph with members of the Doster Military Band all sporting their purple wool jackets. “If the members of this band could have heard the words of praise voiced for excellent playing their heads would be swelled so that they would have to go without their hats.”

This statement from the August 15, 1908 edition of the Kalamazoo Gazette sang praise for a recent concert of the Doster Band. The Doster Military Band was from Doster, a small community east of Plainwell. The band performed concerts and played at public events such as fairs and local

field days in the Allegan and Plainwell areas in the early 1900s.

Born on March 23, 1894 to Frank and Dora Minar, Russell seems to have inherited his mother’s love of music and started playing music at a young age. Russell lived in the Doster area his entire life, graduating from Plainwell High School and attending Kalamazoo College.

The jacket and photograph are both treasures, but the jacket even a little more. It was made by the Henderson-Ames Company of Kalamazoo, a well-known manufacturer of uniforms and regalia. Both the photograph and jacket had been with the family for over 100 years. In February 2013, Russell’s grandson, John M. Fleming, donated both to the Museum for all to enjoy.

Russell Minar, one of the youngest members of the band, is seen holding his cornet (front row, far right), ca. 1905.


SUMMER 2014 HANDS-ON HAPPENINGSWednesdays: June 25-August 6, 1–4 pm FREE!The Creative Spirit!Get your creative juices flowing for a summer packed with make-believe, puzzles, ingenuity, creativity, science and magic!

June 25 Engineering and Ingenuity Use your imagination to build sculptures, create collages, and more.July 2: The Mystery of MagicCreate optical illusions, magic tricks, and tools of the trade.

Cut and keep for Summer Happenings

OCT. 18, 2014 —MAY 17, 2015Immerse yourself in Civil War history through the eyes of the people of Kalamazoo County. The exhibit showcases their efforts through

stories and events of the time, along with hands-on activities.

July 9: Draw Me a Story Draw a variety of cartoon items and illustrate your story.July 16: SuperheroesMake puppets, costumes, and super hero props.July 23: Wild and Crazy ScienceConduct experiments and try your hand at wild science.July 30: Mind Games and Puzzles Solve puzzles, make games, and figure out mysteries.August 6: Inspired by NatureCreate using materials found in nature.

All Hands-On Programs are FREEVisit our website for details on all programs.

KALAMAZOO FOR THE

TUESDAY, JULY 8 OR TUESDAY, JULY 15 9 am – 4 pm FREE!

This is an interactive camp designed to educate children on the importance of emergency preparedness. Participants will learn how to access the 911 system, cardiopulmonary resuscitation

(CPR), basic first aid, fire safety, bike safety, abduction awareness, severe weather action, and gun safety.

Each one-day camp will take place at the Kalamazoo Valley Museum. Limit 25 students, ages 9 to 11.

REGISTRATION REQUIRED ATlifeems.com

Registration opens May 1, 2014For more information, or to learn of other dates and locations,

contact Kimberly Middleton at 269.373.3116 or at [email protected].

Sponsored by Life EMS Ambulance in partnership with the Kalamazoo Valley Museum.


230 North Rose Street Kalamazoo, MI 49007

Non-Profit Org. U.S. PostagePAIDPermit No. 995Kalamazoo, MI

Monday-Saturday 9 am–5 pmFriday (Oct-May) 9 am–9 pm

Sunday + Holidays 1 pm–5 pmClosed: Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve,

Christmas Day, and Easter

FREE GENERAL ADMISSION

230 North Rose Street Kalamazoo, MI 49007

269.373.7990 | 800.772.3370

www.kalamazoomuseum.org /KalamazooValleyMuseum

@kalamazoomuseum

Handicapped accessible. Sign language interpreters may be scheduled with a minimum of two weeks notice. Assisted listening devices are available in the

Planetarium. Our TDD number is 269.373.7982

The Kalamazoo Valley Museum is operated by Kalamazoo Valley Community College and is governed by its Board of Trustees

Cut and keep for Summer Happenings

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Meet at the Museum · Phone: 269.373.7990 or 800.772.3370 Comments or questions about this publication may be directed to the KVCC Marketing Department at 269.373.7847. Kalamazoo